Indian tennis: Marin Cilic to headline fifth edition of the Maharashtra Open

World No 17 Marin Cilic will headline a strong singles field at the fifth edition of the Tata Open Maharashtra along with 16 other top-100 players when South Asia’s only ATP 250 event returns to the opening week of the calendar and kicks off at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on December 31.

The Tata Open Maharashtra, owned by IMG and managed by RISE, will be conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association for the fifth year in Pune.

The last two editions of the tournament were held in the first week of February. However, with the event being pushed earlier by a month, players can use it as a tune-up event for the Australian Open.

“The tournament returning to January first week is really satisfying for us as organisers because there will be more exciting competition in the presence of bigger names and this singles acceptance list reflects the same. We are looking forward to welcoming all the players, officials and the fans to make this fifth edition even more special,” said Prashant Sutar, Tournament Director of Tata Open Maharashtra.

The 2014 US Open Champion, Cilic has won this tournament twice, in 2009 and 2010, and also reached semifinals in 2018. He will look to add another trophy to his cabinet.

Apart from Cilic, the singles main draw will feature five other top-50 players: Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp (ranked 35) , Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori (ranked 40), Argentine Sebastian Baez (ranked 43), American Jenson Brooksby (48) and Slovakia’s Alex Molcan (50).

The highly competitive field also consists of 11 other top-100 players with the cut-off standing at 115 for direct entry.

De Zandschulp competed in all four Majors in the 2022 season, losing the Wimbledon pre-quarterfinals and the Roland Garros third round to Rafael Nadal. He also ended as a runner-up at the Munich ATP 250, his best show of the season.

Last edition’s runner-up Ruusuvuori made good progress through the year, taking three wins over top-20 players while Baez featured in three ATP 250 events in the first half of the season, winning in Estoril and finishing runner-up in Bastad and Santiago. Brooksby also had reasonable success as he reached two finals (Dallas and Atlanta) and would look to go the full distance in Pune.

Molcan, a southpaw, managed to reach finals in Lyon and Marrakech, where he recorded a stunning win over top-10 Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The qualifying event will begin on December 31 while the main draw will be played from January 2-7.